file_get_contents() returns garbled data

Question

I am trying to use the SO API (eg: http://api.stackoverflow.com/1.0/users/3) to get some data:

<?php

$data = file_get_contents('http://api.stackoverflow.com/1.0/users/3');
echo $data;

?>

But the returned contents are garbled. I tested it on a couple different servers, including http://codepad.viper-7.com/9GFvsM. Is it my code or the API?

(0) belongs on meta, or even stackapps.com (1) how are they garbled? — SilentGhost, Oct 07 '10 at 16:53
(0) Not really if it's a programming problem (it is) (1) There is a link on my post. — 999999, Oct 07 '10 at 17:12

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 07 '10 at 16:54

2

The response is gzipped. I recommend you use curl and set CURLOPT_ENCODING to gzip.

answered Oct 07 '10 at 16:54

Matthew Flaschen

278,309
50
514
539

2

It shouldn't be gzipped if the client didn't request it as such, should it? – Pekka Oct 07 '10 at 16:56
1

@Pekka See http://stackapps.com/questions/729/server-has-stopped-obeying-accept-encoding-header – Artefacto Oct 07 '10 at 20:04
@Artefacto cheers. I agree with `Then the server should send a 406 response`. – Pekka Oct 07 '10 at 20:07

file_get_contents() returns garbled data

1 Answers1